Some PREDATORS Reviews From AICN Readers!!

Merrick here...
We've received a few PREDATORS reviews...and they're decidedly mixed. A representative sampling appears below.
This said, and to be fair, we're also hearing some rather positive word of mouth (literally...word of mouth, not written reviews) out of press screenings in L.A. So, this may end up being one of those highly divisive titles. The AICN crew will be seeing the film over the next several days and offering our own opinions when we do. In all probability, I won't write-up a review myself - but will certainly offer a few thoughts via my Twitter feed by early afternoon tomorrow.
Onto our reader reactions: First up, Dutch...who liked the film quite a bit. There are a few spoilers in Dutch's piece...nothing terribly surprising but those wishing to remain pure may wish to avoid this one. If this means you, then here's what Dutch thought in brief: he feels that the first two thirds of the film were carefully constructed and really tight, but the ending of the movie feels too rushed and leaves too many plot holes.
Here's Dutch...

Last night I was treated to a wonderful surprise in Ann Arbor when my girlfriend was supposedly dragging me to a late show of "Twilight", her way of getting revenge for seeing "Underworld" with me, and it turned out to be a sneak peek of "Predators." The place was going wild and many a Predator one liners were being shouted throughout the room as the lights went dark. My favorite being "I'm a Goddamn sexual Tyrannosaur!"
Let me just start by saying that any leftover bad taste from the AVP films has been completely wiped away as the film references the first Predator film while none of the other films even seem to exist. And anyone who doubted that Adrien Brody was a poor casting choice is flat out wrong! The casting is very good, even and effective and Robert Rodriguez's talent comes through as the story actually develops plot, character and a new element to the Predator realm.
Adrian Brody falls from the sky and is fixed with a parachute of some kind. He runs into others like him and while they are all confused as to what's going on, they are not only smart, but as they quickly find out, deadly. As we are told in the trailers the group consists of killers. Yakuza, Military (Brody), a sniper and others. The idea could just add up to a mixed bag group, but they each have their purpose and as they realize that they're being hunted, they were chosen for a purpose by the Predators and they begin working together to discover the strategy being used by the Predators to hunt them. Their talents make for the best challenge for the Predators which is what they want.
The movie contains traditional horror elements as each death is written specifically for their own talent and the Predators attack the ones who they feel are their greatest challenges. Rodriguez clearly wanted to make not only an action movie in the style of the 80's Predator, but he wanted to continue with the evolution of the Predator world. The Predators have other creatures on their home planet which they unleash on our heroes. The relationship with the dangers of the Predators and the humans is the underlying point of the film. Humans are the most dangerous game of all as was stated in the "Most Dangerous Game." These two stories are similar, relatively shipwrecked humans being hunted by those who wish to hunt the best.
Ultimately, "Predators" is filled with great action and gore and Adrien Brody kicking ass in an authentic way. We have memorable one liners during a tight first two thirds of the film. "They're hunting us, that's part of the game. It's time to get off the bench or we die." The film is saturated with gore as you would expect and as the film moves forward, the action builds, and ultimately is where the story unravels. I felt the AVP movies ended very quickly, especially the first one. This film is no different. Obviously we know Brody lives to the climax, but the others who make it are a surprise which I will not spoil. However, the end comes and goes too quickly and I felt somewhat disappointed that there was so much careful creation for the film's beginnings only to ignore plot holes in the end.
I have to say "Predators" was a great surprise and Laurence Fishburne and Danny Trejo clearly enjoyed doing this as they are my new heroes and rival Ventura and Duke from the original for machismo. Brody pulls off his part and a sequel is inevitable. However, the Yakuza warrior killing the Predator with a samurai sword is the best moment in the film. A definite step up from all the other sequels!!! See this film, it will make you "A God Damn sexual Tyrannosaur!!!"
If you use this, call me Dutch.

GreekGeek also took time to send in some thoughts after catching a screening of the film. He calls it a "walking-and-talking-through-the-woods"-fest, and evokes Ken Thorne's score for SUPERMAN II when talking about John Debney's work on this picture (uh oh!)
Here's GreekGeek...

Hi there, GreekGeek here!
Just saw PREDATORS at a press screening here in Hamburg, Germany.
(and as always, please excuse my English)
I planned to write a longer review for this "reboot" of a "never-really-working" franchise, but after this boring, uninspiring mess of a movie, I just can't find any words.
There isn't any spoiler in my quick review, because there isn't anything new or surprising in this rehash.
This is a plain simple retelling of the 1987 John McTiernan movie.
Only this time on another planet. But why? The forests look exactly like northern California. There is nothing on this planet that looks remotely alien. Except the Predators, some tiger-things and that's it.
A bunch of criminals, who aren't menacing in any scene of this lame movie, against an enemy who is 15% of the time onscreen.
The sparse appearances of the titular character are the only thing reminiscing of the good parts from the first movie.
Everything else is just booooring. Lawrence Fishburne's "guest-appearance" is laughable, he is some crazy guy, surviving numerous Predator attacks and gone crazy. And why is he looking like Yaphet Kotto in MIDNIGHT RUN?!?
Adrien Brody as an action star? That's the only thing that didn't went wrong in this one. I was afraid this would be like his KING KONG turn, but it's way better. He hasn't anything special to do on this one, but isn't - like I said - the worst thing here.
The only thing that bothered me (and the rest of the journalists): Brody's Character knew everything and had an answer to anything.
Don't get me started with the female character starting an in your face exposition about the happenings 1987 in Guatemala.
(I hope she meant the McTiernan movie at her local drive-in cinema...)
And by the way Topher Grace's Character (another copy of every PREDATOR and ALIEN movie) sucked!
The other guys in the gang weren't that memorable and Machete's part is way too short and his disappearance too unspectacular.
I hope that the original 1995 Rodriguez Treatment is completely different than this "walking-and-talking-through-the-woods"-fest.
No scares, no suspense, no thrills, no gore (two lame shot decapitations of Predators), no interesting characters, no story development whatsoever.
Even the terrible ALIEN VS. PREDATOR movies have more plot.
I was never a PREDATOR Franchise fan. I liked the first one, mainly because of Alan Silvestri's Score, and that's it.
Oh, and this score: I'm a big John Debney fan, but this score sounds like Ken Thorne's SUPERMAN II Score all over again - mimicking Silvestri's Jungle Sounds and using the PREDATOR Theme as if the Predator was an action hero.
Sorry guys, I thought this reboot would make me a PREDATOR Fan...
Visit my filmnewswebsite http://www.greekgeek.de

Next: a write-up from AotD, who asserts that the movie is a 5.5/6 out of 10.
He says Fishburne gives "one of the worst performances" he's ever seen, and that this film is on par with Stephen Hopkins' PREDATOR 2. Which...I had a lot of fun with. Was it McTiernan's original? Not even close. Did it work in a macro sense? I'd argue that it had a distinct personality and was a completely worthy entry on its own merits.
Here's AotD...

First time writing in, I was pretty lucky to nab a press screening of Predators tonight and thought I'd give everyone the heads up with as little spoilers as possible.
Right off the bat, this isn't a franchise savior along the lines of Batman Begins or Star Trek. What it is, is a fairly solid if unspectacular action flick with some decent performances as well as one truly horrendous one.
The Good- Adrian Brody
I was pretty surprised by how effective he was in the lead role, they don't play him up to be a bad motherfucker to rival Arnie, instead they go for an isolated, cold angle, and for the most part it works.
-- The Predators
Definitely dug the new breeds, the costumes are pretty great, especially the jawbone on the "leader".
-- The Score
It borrowed a lot from Alan Silvestri's work on the first movie and new composer John Debney does some good work in matching the new with the old.
- The action
For the most part, it was well handled and Antal picked up some great shots along the way, no handicam shakey bollocks here.
Now, The Bad-- The predadogs
Awful, unconvincing CGI, not remotely scary and actually reminded me a lot of the creature in 'Lady in the Water'
-- The Topher surprise
I don't want to go into what happens as I don't want any spoilers, but man, this part was unconvincing as hell.
-- The story
Although it was handled well, it wasn't as thrilling as the original and a lot of parts seemed like direct rehashes of the 87 classic.
And the worst part of all...
-- Laurence Fishburne
Holy shit. Hands down one of the worst performances I've ever seen. I know you're buddies with Robert Rodriguez, dude, please ask him what the thought was behind this character. It was a truly appalling attempt to add some sort of Apocalypse Now psychosis into the movie, but actually came off more like Ace Ventura at the start of "When Nature Calls". The people I was watching it with were either laughing at him or squirming at how terrible his entire part of the movie is.
Verdict
It's a step in the right direction at least, a massive improvement on the AvPs but still nowhere near as good as the original. If i was being generous, I'd put it on par with the Danny Glover sequel.
A solid 5.5/10...6/10 if I'm being really generous.
If you use this, call me AotD.

Finally, here's Bospherous Bill, who says PREDATORS "almost took off, but never quite ignited", its effects "weren't that special" , and feels the project is "not really worth it." He scores it 2 1/2 out of 5, and says he's glad he didn't pay to see it.

I've just seen a preview of Predators at The Apollo in Lower Regent Street in London.
If you use this I am Bospherous Bill; Lord knows why.
I saw the first Predator on it's release and loved it. I remember going in with pretty low expectations but was thoroughly psyched by what was on show. It felt fresh and imaginative and suggested so many future possibilities.
Predator 2 I felt barely delivered; it wasn't a complete waste of time but it was at heart preposterous in light of the logic of the first film, the only thrills coming from the gore and the Alien nod at the end. And we all know the multiple clusterfuck that resulted from the Alien/Predator series spawned by that nod.
By the way; you know how in the first AvP the Queen is dispatched to the bottom of the Arctic deeps? Surely, surely a beast untroubled by the vacuum of space would be only mildly put out by this? In no time Queeny would have been messing with the fauna of the depths and a great line of 'Whalien' films could have played out for us but for the lack of a bit of imagination...
Anyway, to Predators; it's not Predator but it's not AvP either. And Lord knows it's no Whalien, but what is eh? All in all it's about a 2 1/2 out of 5. I'm glad I didn't pay to see it, it was better than the AvP films but not better than Predator 2.
It almost took off, but never quite ignited. As an audience we knew too much and the film making wasn't sophisticated enough to deal with this. We all know it's a Predator movie, we know Earth's toughest have been dumped on an alien game reserve as prey, so why take so long to reveal the reveal that we all know before buying the tickets? Because they couldn't be bothered to be creative enough? Possibly.
For a run and gun film the middle really lagged too. A lot of dramatic tension seemed to be thrown away for a lack of patience; there was no time to settle and no time to get spooked as everything was done at a sprint. And the ending? Well, it felt like it was ad-libbed on the day when they were told the money had run out.
The special effects weren't that special and the new breed Predator looked piss poor; like a bored student had been given the job of updating the original but came up with only one (bad) idea; I know - a mouth guard! A bit like the Spartan helmets from 300 but with teeth!!
There are a couple of flagrant steals from Aliens as well (tunnel crawling and "Don't worry, I'll do us both if the time comes.") which only act to make you think; why?
All in all not really worth it I'm afraid.

I'll say it again...
As far as I'm concerned, if it's as good as PREDATOR 2? That gives us a bit to work with. I guess we'll see for ourselves soon enough...

His only good film was "Sin City". "Desperado" was corny as Hell. And -- come on -- his stuff in the last ten years? Cringe-inducing, godawful kid films???!!! You guys got all wet over him producing/writing this Predator film. I knew what we would get. And he cherishes the feet of George Lucas too much. He is in the same league as M. Night. Actually, M. Night is better because "Sixth Sense" and "Unbreakable" are great, ground-breaking films.

Which could be a good thing. I don't know that anyone was expecting this to be as good as the original, but if it's as good as P2, then it's worth having been made if for no other reason than to get the bad taste of the AvPs out of our collective mouths.

...No surprise there.<P>
I really don't want to see any more ALIEN or PREDATOR movies. This generation of movie-makers is so fucking retarded, we'll never get to see a movie as great as these genre 80s classics ever again. No new ideas, lukewarm rehashes of movies these fucking business-oriented brats don't actually understand, fucking laughable scripts, uninspiring production design... WTF is wrong with these studios? When did Rodriguez suddenly become shit? Why does Fox want to kill every promising franchise it ever fucking had? I mean - it's meant to be a GOOD thing that it's on a par with PREDATOR 2? Would that be the one where Danny Glover is a laughing stock of a cop, Bill Paxton gives a career-worst performance, Maria Conchita Alonso is less intelligible than she was in THE RUNNING MAN, and the only saving grace apart from the Predator designs is the fucking hilarious King Willy bit?? And if you're gonna copy the Dark Horse PREDATOR comic series - as PREDATOR 2 so transparently did - then why not FUCKING DO IT RIGHT?? The comic was badass enough to have made a slid sequel - why the FUCK did they go with that shitfest of a script they eventually vomited up onscreen?? WTF were they thinking??<P>
Fuck PREDATORS. I'll rewatch the original and catch this shit on DVD.<P>
Until I see a Dark Horse PREDATOR adap onscreen, fuck Fox and their unique ability to take the surest of sure things and turn it into dogshit. I'm through watching my favourite monsters getting fistfucked by the bean-counters onscreen. Fuck them all. And Rodriguez?? Fuck you for selling out.

The thing that worries me is the lack of advertising I'm seeing for this. I don't watch much live TV, are there ads for it on television? There are practically no billboards or media on display in LA. Is Fox quietly dumping a bomb and not bothering to waste money on marketing?

That kills his credibility. The score was good. The movie was amazing. So fuck his review.
<P>
Another guy says its not as good as Predator 2. Well no shit. Predator 2 had Gary Busey, numbnuts.
<P>
The first review seems like a normal guy.
<P>
I'd rate these review 4/5, 1/5, and 2/5 since we're all fagging out on numbers here like judges at a 'you're successful and I'm not' contest.

I am terribly disappointed to read this. As I was washing the blood from my axe blade last night, I was staring at the poster across the street and hoping… HOPING…. that this would finally be a good Predator movie. It's been far too long since Predator 2, and the AVP movies were so disappointing that they almost killed all of my hope that these intergalactic badasses would return to greatness.<p>I recently abducted a local floosie in my black van and kept her tied up in my cellar for a few months. She missed all of the marketing for the movie and, when we talked about the outside world one night, she was surprised about Adrian Brody being cast in this. If I hadn't used the axe on her last night, I'd have asked her to come on here and write down what she said about Adrian Brody's casting in a Predator movie.<p>It was very rude.

Why is it so damn hard to make an awesome Predator movie?? I knew there was something up when Rodriguez didn't want to direct it. His own damn produced film. I'm gonna check it out anyway first thing friday just cause this is a f'ing Predator movie. And by the way, Armored sucked. My original question applies to that piece of crap too. How the hell do you screw up a heist flick?? He found a way. Please, we need great action directors again. These current guys just don't cut it.

I really want this to be great, but have feared all along that they were letting out too much of the plot in the trailers. Sadly, that looks like it's the case here.
Hope the action sequences are compelling and that we at least get a few great one liners out of this movie.

at least in my neck of the woods. i dont sit and watch tv much but i often leave it on when i'm online and there's constant commercials for it. i do leave it on the same 3 or 4 channels but still. the ads play enough that i was sorta shocked when my mom, who watches much more tv, had no clue this even existed.

July 6, 2010, 11:51 a.m. CST

by misnomer

surprising given how positive the uk papers have been. im still psyched. I read the script and loved it.

Genuinely, I like TBers to hash shit out after a film, have wild theories before a film, but given how many TBers have been actively shitting on this film before seeing it, I can't take any of these seriously.

I like Nolan, and love DiCaprio, and really, REALLY want to see Inception. <p>However, I felt the same way about Shitter Island, everyone on here talking about it like it would be the second coming, but then I saw it and realized it was one boring piece of shit. <p>Here's hoping Inception doesn't follow that course.

"Adrian Brody falls from the sky and is fixed with a parachute of some kind. He runs into others like him and while they are all confused as to what's going on, they are not only smart, but as they quickly find out, deadly."
My head hurts.

great endings. So the reviews talking about a rushed Predators ending are disconcerting. However, P1 and 2 both had great action, sub par scripts, corny oneliners and lots of blood. And I loved those movies. So we'll see. I don't know why some of you guys are taking these reviews so seriously.

...hey, I'm used to that anyway, so...
<p>
Claim:
<p>
Just as there is precisely one good Indiana Jones movie (Raiders of the Lost Ark), there are precisely zero good predator movies.
<p>
The first movie is, like Jesus, "just alright". It's okay...a 6/10 movie tops. The CONCEPT of the predator, the whole "it's come just for the thrill of the hunt" thing...that's great. The design of the predator is great. But the movie itself isn't particularly great.
<p>
I'll leave aside the corny feel (possibly intentional, especially with Arnie). I know a lot of people like its one-liners, maybe because they're deliberately corny. (You can believe that the marines in Aliens are real, whereas the team in Predator feels like a collection of deliberately absurd cartoon characters.)
<p>
The main problem with Predator, however, is that it's too powerful to make the story interesting. In "Alien" the mechanic is much more exciting, for one simple reason: the alien is clearly beatable throughout. Despite Ash's assertion that it's "the perfect organism" and that they have no way to kill it, it's clearly killable, because it isn't particularly smart. It causes mayhem because it catches them by surprise, because they underestimate its life cycle, because they mess a few things up, and because Ash is protecting it. Had Ash not been there and had they gone about things differently, they could have beaten it.
<p>
The predator is different. It completely outclasses the humans. The xenomorph from Alien is more like a land shark, a deadly but instinctive predator. It's not a user of tools, a thinker, an intellect. It's a (star) beast.
<p>
The predator is a life form that stands above humans. It has deadly tech, excellent surveillance gear, and a plan. It is essentially a plot contrivance that Arnie eventually defeats it...it handicaps itself in the fight with him, for a laugh, and the plot then asserts that it fights rather poorly. But up until that point, there's little point even trying to fight it. The humans can't come up with any kind of coherent, workable plan to defeat it, because of the power imbalance. So all we can do really as an audience is wait for each soldier to die in turn, in different ways. That actually REDUCES tension rather than increases it, because it feels like the main characters are on a linear path that's out of their control, not a branching one that is at least partially within their power to influence.
<p>
Alien and Aliens are more exciting, involving stories, because the mechanics allow the humans to have their destiny in their own hands.

eating a Turkey leg and getting a BJ while watching Predator. That being said, Predator 2 was tough. I don't see why people down that flick. Just as solid a P1 especially for not having Arnold in it at all.

Pretty much everything described in these reviews is what I expected. Fan-fiction-level crap, in other words. Bad CG, "alien forest" which looks exactly like California, geek nonsense (Predator killed with samurai sword), and mostly ripoffs from the original film.<p>The original two films were gutsy, original work created from scratch. This is just derivative, fanboy nonsense.

WHAT A LOAD OF CRAP, Kaitlin. That maybe true for the sequels, but the original Alien is highly evolved and intelligent. It quickly learns how to use the Nostromo's air ducts to get about. It tricks Dallas and captures him. It hides in the lifeboat when the Nostromo blows up. Ash is absolutely right - it IS the perfect organism.

I'm not gonna go all junkyard dog on you or anything, but I will disagree that it was a 'plot contrivance' that the Predator 'handicapped itself'. I thought it was pretty clear the explosive arrow near-miss, followed by the full-body immersion in the lagoon had damaged both his stealth and preda-goggle tech. <p> I also got the idea that at that point, ol' Predator was a bit like "I'm gonna beat this motherfucker to death with my BARE HANDS now. That shit is EXPENSIVE." That was my take.

Saying it doesn't make it so. It has some kind of predatory intelligence, and can clearly build mental maps, but it doesn't display symbolic reasoning, the ability to use tools etc. If it was truly intelligent (human-level or above) it would have attempted to take control of the ship. It would have operated doors and controls etc. It doesn't do any of that. And there's no reason to conclude that it climbed aboard the shuttlecraft after analysing what was going on with the self-destruct. The simplest explanation is that it had simply been near the open airlock by the Narcissus when Ripley encountered it, and it wandered in.
<p>
To reiterate, it is essentially a beast. A smarter-than-average beast, but a beast.

...what is its ingenious, machiavellian scheme to kill Ripley once it's aboard the Narcissus? Apparently its plan is to swipe an arm out at her, and then slowly walk towards her chair with its arms outstretched, like Boris Karloff.

I know that anyone that comes to this site HAS to have posted at least once in a Talkback. If you have not felt compelled to do that then you are nothing more than a passive reader....or a plant. <P>
If I ever had the chance to see an advance screening, I sure as shit would post under my handle here....shit I might even post under my B@ name...REDFIST, just to piss Beaks off. <P> If you google that name and AICN you will find that most of these great reviews are just plants. <P> AICN would never do that right? They did it less than 2 weeks ago with the Kung Fu Kid. <P> As far as this movie...I will pass.

"I'm gonna beat this motherfucker to death with my BARE HANDS now"
<p>
Yeah, that's essentially what I'm talking about. It relinquishes its advantages, perhaps through anger, and in a slightly dumb way. Would have been better to retreat. It's like a human hunter stalking a lion, breaking his single rifle then deciding to continue anyway and hope for the best.

and giving anything over to a franchise-killer like Stephen Hopkins is a bona-fide clusterfuck.
Saying this is 'as good' as P2 or better than the AVP films isn't saying much at all.
I weep for the future of this property.

'cause really, there can't be THAT MANY permutations for a Predator movie, right? The name says it all: Predators. There will be more than one, they will be hunting people. <p> I can forgive an alien world looking like earth; unless you're James Cameron or George Lucas, you don't have the juice to produce a photo-real alien landscape. I expect violence, I expect some decent kills, and I expect that it will be better than either AvP film. It's been a pretty dull summer judging by most folks (my limited budget has kept me at home most of this season), and the ads I've seen have me wanting to get a bit of the ultraviolent escapism. <p> Having said that, if it sucks, I'll say it sucks. But I'm cautiously optimistic. I mean, the cast is a good mix of actually good actors and fellas that could whup all our asses.

Well, the review is fake, but had it happened, I'd say someone was playing off the line from "Predator," and that it's accuracy wasn't the point. Yelling "I'm a god damned sexual Tyrannosaur" would have actually been funny.

They're both great, but for some reason when I want to watch a Predator movie I always see myself throwing in the 2nd movie. I think the formula of the first isn't as appealing as all the chaos in the 2nd. It's more fun to watch gary busey and Danny Glover's insanity then to watch one guy get killed after another in the jungle.

So there is no surprise cameo after all? That sorta sucks. I love Fishburne, but even his massive pores and liberal girth can't fill the Dutch void. I was hoping that they found a way to incorporate the original character - at least fleetingly.

Alien works well as a haunted house movie because it's possible to hide from the alien. Or, at the very least, you know that if you're inside a sealed room, and the alien isn't there, you're safe for now.
<p>
Predator's mechanics are different. The humans are in a wide-open jungle, being surveilled by an advanced creature with ranged weapons. It is extremely difficult to hide, and so far as any human knows, they could be shot in a second's time. It's like Bentham's panopticon, with a brutal, capricious, dreadlocked guard who has a rifle. The predator feels more like a god that decides whether people live or die according to a whim: there's not an awful lot they can do about it.

The Predator is essentialy a uber human. The Alien, on the other hand may not be able to push buttons and pull levers, but it demonstrates its considerable intelligence by ambush, strategy and using its environment. It doesn't merely "sneak up" it waits till each human is isolated and gets them on its own terms.

...but if i can just interject.<p>
"It's like a human hunter stalking a lion, breaking his single rifle then deciding to continue anyway and hope for the best."<p>
Uummm, no. It would be like a lion with a bazooka tossing it's bazooka aside and saying, "y'know, i'm just gonna rend this human to bits the old fashioned way." And you know what? It could do that...easily. Unless of course you're saying you could stand a chance in hell of beating up a lion bare-fisted? Because Dutch didn't stand a chance in hell of beating the Predator bare-handed. He won thru using trickery and dumb luck.

That second review where the guy says Adam brody stars in this is such a terrible review, he even says that the only thing he liked about the first movie was the score...really? one of the greatest movies ever made and all you liked was thwe ascore, go fuck yourself you slack jawed faggot, how about a review from an actual predator fan

...because, yes, the Predator probably thought it could fist-fight Arnie pretty easily. Nevertheless, it puts itself in a position of *some* risk, whereas previously it had been in a position of essentially no risk.

maybe it's not fake. the reviewer said his girl supposedly drug him to see Twilight. Maybe she actually did take him to Twilight, and the shitburger suckage was so bloody awful that it rendered him unconscious, whereupon he dreamed he was seeing Predators and his mind convinced him that's what happened. Kind of like a trauma victim's mind blocking out the trauma as a defense mechanism.

at that point, as far as the Predator knew, Dutch was wounded and down to his bare hands as well. And the big P was totally whipping Dutch's ass, not to mention he caught on to that one spiky trap. Dutch's ass got lucky. <p> Also, don't forget, his tech was damaged. It was evident, with his stealth field going in and out all fizzly-like. <p> In the end, this is all just a bunch of sound and fury. It was an 80's Arnold action/horror/sci-fi movie, so you can either go for the ride or not. I went, and have gone many times since. <p> Entertainment is totally subjective. It's cool if it doesn't work for you, but it's one of my bad-ass cinema faves. I just love the fact that I seem to be on a roll of coherent, no-name-calling back and forths on here lately. Usually these tb's are a wretched hive of scum and villainy; which is one reason that though I've been reading this site for about a decade, I've been hesitant to talk back. Have a good day Mr Kaitain. We may meet again.

"it waits till each human is isolated and gets them on its own terms."
<p>
But a cheetah does the same thing. That's very basic stuff indeed. But it's hardly The Joker. There are no scenes in which I'm left thinking, "Wow, that thing is SMART". It's an efficient killer with rudimentary reasoning powers. But it is eminently beatable. The Nostromo crew just go about things in a slightly slapdash way, with Ash helping to screw things up. When Dallas goes into the air ducts it feels like they're still underestimating its power at close proximity, like they haven't taken Parker's report at face value. And after Dallas dies, there's a whiff of panic, plus the major distraction of Ash.
<p>
If the Nostromo had carried any non-trivial weapons, it wouldn't have been especially hard to kill the alien. If a predator had been onboard the Nostromo, on the other hand, the crew would all be dead within a few minutes. A predator is clearly a much, much more formidable opponent than an alien.

of the Predator being more formidable. That's the basic conceit of the first AvP comic series. The Predators use the Alien as a 'rite of passage' hunt. The trouble starts when a queen egg gets thru 'quality control', reaches the surface, and then there's a shit-ton more aliens than they ever bargained for.

First off, it seems none of the haters realize that Robert did not direct this movie and was barely on set the whole time. This is a Nimrod Antal movie through and through.
Second, Rodriguez is a film genius. His techniques from the start of his career until now have been out of this world. Like his movies or not, he makes what he wants and makes it well.
If you watch the making of Sin City and don't come away amazed at his abilities then you simply don't know anything about making movies.

As I said, it's a 6/10 movie. It's a great concept that wasn't imo realized especially well, and it has a cheesy script and cheesy acting. I don't think McTiernan is in the same league as Cameron (possibly why his career has pretty much died).
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I grew up in the 70s and 80s. I saw all those movies in their first year of release. Predator never really did much for me. I never bothered getting it on VHS, whereas I must have watched Aliens and Robocop dozens of times.
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btw if we're going to pick "perfect movies" from the 80s I would pick The Terminator over Aliens as a Cameron film, although Aliens is a class act.
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The Terminator is Arnie's only truly great movie imo. (Lots of good ones, but not great ones.)

if I had to choose, I'd hope my alien encounter was more E.T. than either of those. He's all sweet and could make my boo-boos better. <p> But I'll take either A or P over the Thing. Could you imagine a Thing-Alien-Predator hybrid? All kinds of spikey mouthgina parts ripping off and running around.

as noted by AnakinsDiapers. I saw Dutch throwing punches at the Predator and not phasing it on bit. One backhand swipe and Dutch went flying into a tree. When Dutch tried goading the Predator into the trap, it looked at the path Dutch set up, saw the trap and avoided it. Only with the second trap did Dutch take out the Predator. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong with how things happened.

Is no match for the Alien. A bare fight to the death with no weapons involved would result in only one winner - the Alien. And Kaitlain you are wrong about the Predator killing all the crew of the Nostromo within minutes. The crew would hole up with flame throwers. They would change the temperature of the ship radically to flush the Predator out. They would corner it and blow it out into space. The Alien almost killed all the crew by cunning alone. No invisibilty suit, no lasers, no blades.

"The crew would hole up with flame throwers. They would change the temperature of the ship radically to flush the Predator out."<p>
Really? First off, in what direction would they change the temperature and who would get that idea for what reason? Secondly, not counting the Predator from Predator 2 with the extra gear - whom i consider a young turk carrying all the new fangled gear, against the original grizzled hunter - the Predator with just the plasma blaster, forearm blades, and cloaking tech would walk thru the crew in under a minute. Come on, you know it's true. The Predator is physically stronger than an Alien, not counting everything else in it's arsenal. Not to mention a Predator being far more intelleigent than a human. The only thing that ever get's in the way of a Predator is its sense of fair play.

The original Predator movie has too much nostalgic baggage... meaning people think it's better than it is. I like it, but it's pretty cheesy and could easily be improved upon. But even if Predators is superior to that film, I don't think any Predator fans will ever recognize that. So far, critics seem to dig it.

"If it bleeds, we can kill it". If the Predators tries to "walk through" the crew of the Nostromo it would kill a few but also get blasted by flame throwers. It would get turned into a kebab. And I disagree the Predator is stronger than an Alien. The Alien can survive in space. Think about that. Think about how tough it must be to survive in space.

Oh well. I'm still in to see it. It looks great to me. I saw Rodriguez's name and was like, "Oh yeah! He's def the guy to do this." Then I saw it was *actually* some other guy doing it and I started to get skeptical... We'll see this weekend, I guess...

In those we get the Predator (Yautje) world view. The Hard Meat (Alien Warriors) are *sacred* to the Predators; we humans are considered 'added reading'. In one book, a neophyte asks why Predators hunt the Soft Meat (us humans) when the only real nobility and achievement comes from slaying the Hard Meat. Broken Tusk, the master explains: "Humans are cunning, and have *no* sense of honor. Hunting them sharpens your wits."

Sorry I usually never call out these days because it's so trivial but the first review did not sound like something that would come out of someone who just happens to waltz into a special screening of this piece of junk. Either way, this is definitely shaping up to be a soon-to-be-on-tbs movie from the looks of it; no originality, just the same old post 2000 rehash of some concept from decades ago.

You're reasoning is in the assumption that the Predator is an animal with animal instincts. Predators are superior to humans. A Predator would no more walk into a flamethrower than yu or i. Furthermore, Dutch's crew were seasoned soldiers, and it took them a while to figure out how to set a trap for it. What resources and knowledge does a bunch of astronauts have to confound the Predator? Answer. None. Unlike the Alien, The Predator has a cloaking device and a ranged weapon. Whomever would be weilding a flamethrower would be fair game for the Predator, which means a plasma blaster to the chest, from out of knowhere as far as the crew is concerned.<p>
As far as the Predators strength vs an Alien, the films as well as the comics has proven the Predator stronger than a lone Alien.<p>
Listen, the real strength of an Alien is numbers. They win playing the numbers game, and their defensive biology of having acid for blood. The acid the Predators have defenses against. Again, already illustrated in the comics. Again, the Predators desire to "play fair" has them gearing down to take on Aliens in a rite of manhood. "Aliens", plural. Because one on one isn't a fight.

Reading a bunch of whining maggot reviews about a sequel to a 25 year old 80s action flick. The original was great because it had a good villian, great cheesey qutoable lines, Roided out Macho men doing manly things, and it was a tight film that entertained (second one did this also why the hate?). As long as this film can do most of these things (doubt any of the pussies in this movie got Roided out to take on the Predator, looking at you Brodie) it will be entertaining and that's all I want. As long as the plot holes aren't "Bay Sized" jumps in logic I can handle it.

I'm really pleased to hear Debney hasn't pulled a Beltrami/Elfman and ignored the themes Silvestri created.<br><br>
I'm really keen to see the film now just to hear an action hero version of the Predator theme!!!

Yeah, I'll admit that Aliens hints at greater intelligence...perhaps collective (hive), somewhat mysterious, although in other respects the aliens seem a bit dumber (individually) than the one in the first movie. It also suggests that the queen is smarter than the drones, with her use of the elevator.

"The original Predator movie has too much nostalgic baggage... meaning people think it's better than it is. "
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I agree.
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It's an interesting case (imo) of a strong brand being built on the back of a so-so movie.
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This relates to a quality that can be important and saleable in geek genre fiction: it suggests an interesting wider universe. The kind of thing that makes you go away and think about the possibilities for sequels, spin-offs, comics, video games, fan fiction etc. The movie acts as the potential tip of an iceberg. The characters and plot of the movie are in some ways secondary to its potential for further stories set in its universe.
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Interestingly, this is something that Aliens had a lot more than Alien. Whereas I think Alien is the superior movie, Aliens suggests a kick-ass wider universe that you want to see more of, most obviously the space marines.
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I don't regard Predator as a great movie, but there is something about the predator itself that seems very cool and invites further stories. But maybe, as I've said, its sheer power makes it hard to deploy in exciting stories, because of the lack of balance.

I remember reading a number of alien and predator (and avp) novels back in middle school like 15 years ago and I know that from that source material they could craft some great movies. <p>
Oh yeah, best thing to come from reading the above reviews: WHALIENS

I read that the Alien prequel will show the more intelligent breed of xenomorphs, including the infamous "space jockey".
Also, Predator would totally own the Nostromo crew, hands down. All those tight corridors and no place to hide would be the death of all humans. They would not even see it coming. The weapons they used don't even have the range to hurt a Predator.
Geek rant complete.

...he made his career hunting hot, nubile teens. Why waste your time with commandos or ugly space marines? So much extra work for the same payoff, and no nudity to boot.<p>I believe this ends our treatise on the relative intelligence of fictional movie monsters. Thank you.

Classes should be held on the right way to use economy in storytelling with a large cast by using Predator as an example.<p>
Predator is one of the most quotable geek movies of all time for a reason. Each and every character, regardless of the short time we had with them, was fleshed out and given a personality and "life", so we felt for them when they died. Not a one of them was a cipher. And this was accomplished while still not forgeting the movie was a vehicle for Arnold. That is a great accomplishment.<p>
What the people behind the AVP pictures didn't realize is that the Predator and the Aliens were just the icing; the bells and whistles. The humans were the cake. The personalities in these two pictures is what really made the films successfull. The AVP pictures just built their stories areound the slasher picture model, where the cast are all just ciphers, their only job being to set up the kills.<p>
They missed the point entirely. I'm hoping Nimrod realizes this and at least attempts to make memorable characters.

Yeah, it's neat to think about space marines, Predator races, Alien home worlds & space jockeys. It's tempting to write novels, comic books, decades-later film sequels, etc.<p>But no matter how hard they try, it only ever dilutes the power of the original, never adds to it.<p>It's a geek fallacy to want to explain and flesh out every bit of suggested mystery. But the fact that such motivation exists shows that the power *comes from the mystery*. It's the *mystery* which fires the imagination. Endless backstories & third-party mytholoigies only put out that fire & cool the excitement of "what if?".<p>Exhibit A: every Star Wars prequel, novel, and comic book in existence.<p>In my opinion, we should revel in the excitement of those evocative mysteries without trying to fill the void with boring, prosaic, procedural explanations. Create new stories with new mysteries.<p>There's more value in a few brief shots of the "space jockey" than in all the Alien & AVP stuff which came afterward. More value in one completely unexplained Predator than in everything which followed.<p>All these bastards want to do is take the shortest path to making a few million dollars. Any idiot can do that. Where's the desire to truly create wonder?

That's such a good point. The further these properties get from their source, the more it seems to turn into geek fantasies of "ooh, what if we had the Alien do *this*! Cool! And we had a Predator with *this* kind of weapon! Awesome! And a guy with a samurai sword...yes!"<p>I understand the sentiment. I spent untold hours making up scenarios with action figures. But I don't think that entitles me to make a movie with those characters and call it some kind of official extension of the story.

I'm sure you're right about that. I think that with both reviews and box office, we'll see better returns than it deserves. My theory is a certain tendency to celebrate "our" Predator. The old one was someone else's Predator - your dad's, your older brother's, or just a bunch of older strangers.<p>But between remakes, samples, and rip-offs like Predators, we're being conditioned to celebrate this kind of regurgitation. It's worthwhile to spend your time watching, listening to, and reading copycat junk, made with cynicism and crass marketing. So long as we can watch some fake blood and hear the little Predator sounds on a big screen again, it's automaticalyl a good thing.<p>Feh.

Several Predators going up against a team of space marines like the one from Aliens. Set it in the future on a deserted colonial outpost. The marines will have their motion trackers to detect the Preds, and the smart guns to even things out slightly. The Preds will have their ultimate prey - hi tech cunning humans. Let battle commence.

you should provide your source for said scoop. it's not on variety, comingsoon, imdb, or even found through a simple google of "evil dead 4", of which produces nothing more recent than January 2010. so where did you get your "cool news"?

Although movies proves he's voyeur. Watches the kids have sex and his orgasm is what--killing them?! Guess its better than having the kids in middle sex upon hearing grunting going on by some tree's investigate and catch a giant guy in a hockey mask jerking off.

They continue to recycle franchises like Predator after having all but killed it with AVP. And an Alien prequel is on the horizon...possibly in 3D!!! The studios need to get with the program here and realize that just because something isn't AVP and it's being produced by Robert Rodriguez doesn't mean it's going to be an instant hit. Take a cue from Neill Blomkamp and do some more original work rather than just beating a dead horse.

Your comment about geeks always wanting "mysteries" explained and expanded upon, diluting what made the "mystery" intriguing in the first place, reminds me of some of the arguments I had in the LOST talkbacks.<br /><br />The Dharma Initiative was much more fascinating when we knew little or nothing about it, when it was just a mysterious science project that seemed to be abandoned for unexplained reasons, leaving behind only a bunch of empty stations,strange orientation films and a half crazed Desmond. The more we learned about it the less interesting it became, until finally we had some of our characters actually going back in time and interacting with the Dharma characters for 3 years.<br /><br />Angry geeks wanted to Dot all the I's and Cross all the T's,and it was like midichlorians taking all the mojo out of The Force.

Predator 2 wasn't good. It wasn't a worthy follow-up to Predator. It did have its moments but the same can be said about the terrible AVP movies. A small collection of "cool scenes" doesn't make it good.

but don't seriously try to convince anyone it's a "good" movie. I sorta enjoy it, but I would never claim it's good. It's fun and campy, but it's also boneheaded and over the top, and clearly scripted by simpletons. 1997... THE FUTURE! Voodoo cults and crazy handguns! Retarded.

He's just a fan of the movies, unlike the other assholes who probably spent the whole time kicking people's chairs and playing MST3K outloud with their "bro's." You can clearly see they weren't interested from the get-go.

And it sounds like they at least reference, in passing, the events of the original film. So why are people calling it a reboot? It's "just" a seuqel.<p>Anyway, having paid for both AvP, I'll be seeing this in the cinema for sure. Release date is the same as Toy Story 3 here in Japan so it'll make a good double bill.

is somewhat silly to me. If you've watched the Predator films, they do that in just about every one of 'em. When one of them encounters truly worthy prey, they hunt it sans the gear. If it's something that will truly test their mettle they're gonna go hand to hand. That's their way.

it was a good film. The setting and the lead wasn't as great as the original but it did make the Predator race look more badass than the original. Cooler weapons, better tech, loved the ship, and the Alien skull. I think Rodriguez is a douche as well as Capone for harping on Predator 2. Predators will probably be just average not as good as Predator 2, but Harry and crew will give it a pass because best bud Rodriguez was overseer and stands to profit.

Either it's brilliant casting that is successfully pulled off by cleverly nuanced acting, or... a piss poor judgment call of monumental proportions.<P>P2 gets a lifetime pass for one of the best cinema lines ever, "MOTHERFUCKING VOODOO MAGIC MON!"

Predator 2 did have some cool stuff in it, but you need more than that for a good film. Predator 2 was filled to the brim with goofy acting, lazy plotting, and bizarre settings. Did anyone in 1990 honestly think L.A. could change that much in 7 years!?

Dutch's review of the ending is much like what I felt about Armored (I have not read any reviews of predator, just the message from whatever AICN guy started this topic) The ending of that movie felt very rushed.

what Aliens was to Alien, why is the set-up almost the same as the first movie? Shouldn't it have a bunch of cool marines going to some planet to kick the predators' asses and in return get their own kicked?

The year: 1997.
The setting: A gritty crime infested Los Angeles, where the gangs rule the streets...yadda yadda. I mean, that has to be one of the biggest examples of tom-fuckery in the history of famous movie monsters. Okay, so the movie was released in '90. WHY NOT SET THE MOVIE IN THE PRESENT!!?? I didn't see any flying cars or tricorders or pulse rifles. Just Gary Busey showing up here and there. Honestly, I've seen this movie about 20 times, and I only just realized recently that it was supposed to take place a couple of years in the future. Stephen Hopkins must have really liked Highlander 2.

Yeah, it was hard R and had a few choice moments, but it was a real drop in quality from the original.<p> The Predator series would have been well served with Arnie's Dutch becoming like Ripley and having various encounters with the creatures (which was originally the plan). Pred 2 would have involved Arnie and a bad ass team of agents and cops in New York City tracking the Predator's killing of gang members. Pred 3 could have had Arnie and a team of bad asses whisked to the Predator's home planet as a trophy prey, a la the new film, since he would have become famous among the species for beating their warriors on two prior occasions.<p> There's nothing wrong with the basic plotting and setting of these movies, but there's little to no continuity unlike the Alien series and of course after Arnold's departure,Fox viewed it as more of a B franchise with not the same care and craft in its execution. If Arnold had appeared in Pred 2 it would certainly have been granted a bigger budget and much more attention paid to it. I think Arnold erred in passing up continuing the series. It could have been as iconic a character and franchise for him as Terminator, rather than just a great stand alone movie.

no seriously, I mean it. No more Predator films after this, let's just move on to "The Thing" remake and get a real re-boot franchise going. I mean could an alien who can replicate any living thing at any time really get old? Can it???

As well as trying something different with the story & location, this film actually adds quite a lot more to the Pred mythology. Theres the additional weaponry, the code of conduct (no preggers women!) & other preds - that have been hunting through the ages! Plus the multi ending was great! There was like 3 potential endings bolted on one after the other - fantastic! The urban jungle was the next logical step - shame they chose 1997 though! The only thing thing we had to take cover for that year was the SW: Special Editions!

It took awhile but I've come to appreciate that film's unique awesomeness. It certainly kicks the ass of the AVP films and many other monster action/horror flicks.<P>That being said, I will add that PREDATOR 2 has some of the worst ADR I've ever heard in a film. But when you're dealing with King Willie's Voodoo Posse, Scorpio, a naked chick, and some ultra sci-fi violence...its easy to let it slide.

gold but tongue in cheek stuff ala "True Lies" is like having your hot Cheryl Tiegs like girlfriend get a butch haircut and surprise you with it. God, I still remember that SI photo from the 70s in that white fishnet swimsuit!! Cheryl Tiegs american female icon.

That's an eye opener for you. The Predator in the first film is female. She kills off the super macho men one by one, starting with the nerdy virgin guy. In the end, it is the super alpha male (Arnie) who kills her by shoving a phallic object down her face. Think about it. It makes sense. You'll never watch the movie the same way again.

Last great action movie of the golden age of action (79 - 94). Would have loved to have seen a sequel or series of that as well. Arnold's Harry Tasker could have had many Bondian type adventures. But yeah, would have loved PoA remake and Cameron-helmed T3 as well. <p>Also Arnold in Crusade, With Wings As Eagles, Ridley's I Am Legend, Face/Off with Stallone, Commando 2, and King Conan: Crown of Iron. And the above mentioned Predator trilogy of course. Arnold's career went down the shitter in the late 90's. Too many crappy comedies and made for TV looking generic action vehicles.

There is always danger trying to do backstory and explanations. That's where you're at greatest risk of fucking things up. You're better off trying to add breadth to a conceptual universe rather than attempting to layer new explanations onto things we've already encountered. And in general, I don't want to see cool characters as children. Do I want to see The Man With No Name as a blundering teenager learning his craft? No. I want him as a mysterious badass.
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I actually think Lucas could have made three enjoyable prequels EASILY, if only he hadn't viewed the trilogy as first and foremost an explanation, rather than an opportunity to tell new stories with new characters, just wrapping around the fall of Anakin. I was utterly pissed off with how small he made the universe feel, as though we could only care about the characters from the OT and their immediate precursors. And the midichlorians were totally unnecessary, and served no purpose whatsoever. (Qui-Gon could simply have sensed Anakin's powers, like Vader does with Luke.)

Still, I enjoyed Twins and Kindergarten Cop. But Jingle and Junior were atrocious. Most of Arnold's intentional comedies didn't work - his best comedy is still Commando, lol!<p>Last Action Hero was also an attempt to court the PG-13 crowd but it bombed. Thereafter, he retreated to throwbacks like Eraser, long after that type of straight ahead action flick had gone out of fashion. As a big Arnie fan back in the day, I found his post-Lies career very frustrating - especially considering some of the great films we could have got. Crusade and I Am Legend came very close to production before the cash-strapped studios pulled the plug.

In terms of general enjoyability, Erasure is no better nor worse than TL. Granted TL has the more wildely ambitious and enthralling action sequences. But I actually think Erasure has a more better rounded plot for an action vehicle. The whole Simon thing and the Helen sub plot in TL was a distraction that didn't serve the story.

I never thought about it that way (though I thought a lot of other frustrated thoughts about them), but Lucas could have kept the sweep of a space opera, without basing the whole series around political discussions that a kid was constantly, awkwardly forced into the middle of.

that Arnie could have made in his heyday. Thats a movie that I think will find an audience with crowd. I don't know how you guys feel about Angelina but she did all her stunts for this one (And all her movies). If you see "Salt" I think you'll respect her just for her stuntwork.

There's an almost robotic, tired, automatic quality to those reviews, and the dreadfully low standards of the reviewers are painfully transparent. 8 people who don't mind seeing the same film they saw 24 years ago doesn't add up to much.

remember Predators 20 years from now like we Gen X-ers do the original? I highly doubt it. This is the problem with all these remakes and reboots and sequels -- they're cashing in on Gen-Xers reminiscing about their favourite 80s films. Predators isn't original, we've seen it all before, and kids who see it today won't remember it in 20 years time as fondly as we Gen X-ers remember the original Predator -- fuck, they won't even remember it in TWO years time. It's just studios cashing in on Gen-X memories, instead of busting their balls to come up with ORIGINAL films that today's generation will have orgasmic geek memories of for years to come. THAT is the issue, and that is why I'm so jaded with today's film industry.

I get so pissed off everytime I read this. A Vacuum is -NOT- the same as the intense pressure of deep water. Vacuum = no pressure. The danger is really whether or not your craft (or body, in the alien's case) can sturdily contain the internal pressure from expanding outwards. However, in the deep deep sea, you are talking THOUSANDS of pounds per square inch of pressure being exerted ON the craft (or body). Unless your building material (or exo-skeleton) was insanely strong, an unequalized internal pressure would be crushed by the external forces.

future guns, the fbi task force, future van, and IR tech whatever etc ... did you see this in theaters, because while its certainly near future and not too different, your statement seems very odd, as at the time i was nine and instantly knew it in the first scene (the "1997" title helps), and have known it every time ive seen it since.
Not terribly surprised this is mixed, roderiguez is so far past his prime its not even funny.... what was his last successful opening ... spy kids 1 or 2?

why didn't it just take place in normal L.A.? Wouldn't it have been much more effective and scary (not to mention cheaper)? Instead we get this weird fantasy warzone L.A. where everything is ridiculous. Odd decision.

i don't know these douchebags who wrote these reviews, they could be going to see the 3rd twilight film after they saw a free viewing of predators for all i know which would obviously negate anything trustworthy or intelligent they would have to say about a film. I will be watching it friday and i'm not gonna let some douche opinions ruin it.

was a comic book mini series before the two movies came out. I have the original mini series, and there were aspects of it in the first film. Obviously, someone read that mini series, but chose to damn near ignore it all-together. Typical of fucking hollyweird to totally interpret things ass backwards and upside down.

... doesn't even look as cool as Poncho from the '87 flick.
How can you replace...
Arnold
Apollo Creed
Jesse The Body
The crazy Native American dude
and The other black guy
with Adrien Brody and those other chumps?
sad.

Me and some buds settled down to watch this flick after a rough night of Lazer Tag in the theater including personal and property injury, both of which were minor, and so I remember mainly it mainly as fun capper to a manic evening. <p> I barely remember P2 but like someone said earlier, I can't understand why such pretty kick ass Dark Horse Comics never got properly sourced, especially the Alien ones. <p> I just have no enthusiasm at all for this, and Robert Rodrigez has plummeted so far down...

Robert Rodriguez! Does anyone on this fucking site understand Robert Rodriguez didn't direct this movie? Or are we dealing with the same contingent here who thinks Hostel was a Quentin Tarantino movie?

i'd like to see what would happen if james cameron got his hands on this film series. he should stop coming out every several years, cash in and then vanish again until he feels like he needs more moeny. i'm sure cameron could do something nice with the predators. i'm just hoping it won't be something like terminator vs predators.

Hi, I'm one of the reviewers from above and what an honour that is. Also, see how much I post; I even got the spelling of my own user-name wrong...
Anyway, I don't think people shouldn't see the film, just don't go in with high expectations. It's not a great movie.
One thing I forgot to say and the others didn't say either was that Brody does a really annoying 'Batman Lite' voice to show how tough he is; read into that what you will.
On the positive someone does get their head pulled off with attached spinal cord, so maybe that will do enough to appease some on here?
'Whaliens vs Predatortoise' from way up above is my kind of film. The sequel 'Snaliens' could be much slower paced though...

... is that you have a bunch of modern day socially disfunctional humans (who you end up not investing any interest or empathy with) being 'teleported' to a completely alien jungle (which you don't really see the point of) and they're being hunted by a myriad of re-hashed, re-designed creatures (that you don't really care for). So you end up with a film that you're completely indifferent to. They really should have stuck to the "1 Predator = major combat-zone-on-earth" concept and left the alien planets to the comic books.

I'm actually a big fan of the Predator movies, me putting Predators on par with Predator 2 definitely wasn't meant as a back handed compliment, if anything I was being too kind to Antal's film because 2 nights sleep has not done the movie any favours. The more I think about it, the more I disliked it and if I could re-write my review, the word "solid" wouldnt be found anywhere in the text. Predators is a completely mediocre film with little to no imagination and I genuinely can not fathom that someone could love this movie. Some may like it, others will flat out hate it, but it's so completely soul-less that I can't for one minute think anyone will LOVE the movie, and as someone hinted a few posts back, in 20 years time, no-one will remember the sequel. And you know what? It sucks. I was really pulling for Predators, it had a good cast and the trailers were pretty good at not showing too much, but most of all, I wanted someone to kick start this franchise because there is so much that can be done. Unfortunately, I get the impression this movie was made for the sake of being made and never set out to be anyones favourite movie, and thats the worst fucking thing a film maker could do, because even if you make a complete turd of epic proportions, every movie should be made with the intention of becoming someones favourite movie and fuck the film makers who don't set out to do this every single fucking time, whether they are successful or not.

This films rocks, in my opinion the best of all the predators. The hunting scenes were amazing and loved the designs on the predators. Looking forward to his take on Frazetta's "Fire and Ice" he should use this concept artists work http://www.targeteart.com/ has a frazetta feel

...while the AvP movies were terrible. So...at least this is worth a watch a least but I was hoping Predators would be like the Predator version of Aliens and be AWESOME. But apparently it isn't. Shame really.

Dog Soldiers came out in early 80's and has a british unit soldiers on manuevers in a forest when they come upon a special ops unit torn to shreds. What wiped out the special ops unit then comes after them. Its a fun movie with lots of close combat scenes. The dialogue is good, acting is decent, guys think and act the way we would in their situation. Special effects used are same ones in Wolfen and American Werewolf in London. Can get it on DVD for about $7. Watched it multiple times and still enjoy it. Not a classic but a solid movie.

"This said, and to be fair, we're also hearing some rather positive word of mouth (literally...word of mouth, not written reviews) out of press screenings in L.A. So, this may end up being one of those highly divisive titles." So does that mean because they are buds with Rodriguez that they will be giving this film a 6 out of 5 stars?

There's a moritorium on, so I can't post my review on my site till tmorw.
This is how you reboot a franchise.
As with ANY film, you can't touch the original. This is def. a step in the right direction. Adrian Brody is awesome. Having been in the Army, most Special Forces guys aren't beefed up, but skinny redneck motherfuckers that are ace with a knife. Brody is TOTALLY beleivable at the end.
I liked the way they mentioned the first film, and, second reviewer, she didn't say she was there, ass. She said "IN THE FILE" she's a freedom fighter in Guatamala.
I agree that the Fishburne scene was a little forced, but they lightened it up with a great Apocalypse Now ref.
The new Predators are fucking awesome. NO other word to describe them. I loved the way the new one butchers the Stan Winston creation.
Topher Grace. Bleh. Coulda done without.
The stand out of the movie, besides Brody, is Walter Grogin (Justified). Think John Malkovich in Con Air.
All in all its a strong cast. The script has a few good twists in it.
My rating 7/10. There is also NO mention of Alien. Not ironically placed in the background (Pred 2), not a mention from any of the cast. AVP is gone for fucking good. thank fucking god.
Good summer actioner. If you read the comics, you won't be dissappointed.

I never bought that the aliens cut the power. I think that the station was breaking down and the power just went out. In my opinion, Ripley called it wrong.<p>The alien is very easy to kill, provided you get a clean shot at it. They splattered all over the place when the Colonial Marines fired off their pulse rifles. I think the crew of the Nostromo had a BIG hand in their own demise. Seriously, they were long haul truckers, not soldiers.<p>That said, I don't think this movie will get my money until it gets to that RedBox down the block from where I live.

Horrible. Not to say I disagree with your opinions because I haven't seen the film yet, but if you are going to send in reviews as a journalist, which you lead readers to believe, you should try learning a thing or two about writing. Your grammar is horrible and your sentence structure is weak, sir. Maybe the movie sucked to sit through, but reading your shitty writing was no walk in the park either. Take some pride in this shit, or at least do a quick edit or two before you fire it off.

because I'm hooked on that. Yeah, I know its factually incorrect and occasionally the dialogue slips to 20th century occasionally. Still its great to look at, has politcal/religious intrigue, burning/beheading scenes that really make you go "thats a lousy way to die", the tower of london, sex and a self centered king that half the time you hate and the other half is a decent fellow. Jon Rhys Davies who plays Henry the VIII is my choice for Dr Strange. Once I'm done with the Tudors then its on to Rome.

I knew hanging out with Quentin Terantino would turn his films into talk-fests. Too bad. An arctic setting with snow, blizzards avalanches and polar bears would have been better. Whitout blizzards, burning cold weather, and blood on the ice. A great score with a Kubrick look and I would have saved the franchise. Fuck it, I said it. I and other geeks like me could have done better.

Reason I think this is, I read that these predators don't have a sense of honor like the old school predators in the original and P2. Maybe also these "punk" predators are in their 20's say and the honorable predators are in their 30-40s so thats why they look skinny compared to the originals.

Here, let me explain, it's very simple: look at *what* those reviewers are praising, and *how* they're praising it. Everything in what they're saying and how they're saying it is lazy, lowbrow, and low expectations. It's faint praise for small achievements. I'm sorry if you can't see that, or are too confused by the concept to understand my point.

It's a sequel in name only. In every other way, it's a ripoff of the original, with geek nonsense (Predator dogs, samurai swords!) sprinkled on top. What's that? Hardened, trained killers in a jungle being picked off one by one by Predators? Oh, but it's an *alien* jungle, because of that crappy CG in the sky! It's different!

People can't write reviews... seriously.
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"Adrian Brody falls from the sky and is fixed with a parachute of some kind. He runs into others like him and while they are all confused as to what's going on, they are not only smart, but as they quickly find out, deadly."
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Captain of ship: Hey bro, we're gonna drop you onto an alien world and not tell you why we did it!
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Good one liners? "Get off the bench or you die?" Seriously, that is not a great one liner... in fact... it's godawful dialogue.

i have to agree. either the actor makes a one hell of a delivery of that line, or it just plain sucks!<br><br>Really, i don't car what the positive reviews say, i don't have a good feeling about this, no matter what says on Rotten Tomatoes..

Speaking of 'Dog Soldiers'...I remember when the director of that particular film, Neil Marshall, was reported to have been in the running to direct 'Predators'. Wonder what pushed Rodriguez to pick Antal over Marshall?

Just saw it. These reviews are way off, except for the Fishburn character, which was terrible. The rest was up there with the first film. Although I kept imagining the BrodyQuest song playing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygI-2F8ApUM

Thanks thomasjarvis for that bit of info. Would have like to seen his version of this movie. Why Rodriguez didn't go with him is a good question. Just watch "Dog Soldiers" and you know Marshall was the right choice.

I grew up about 20 miles north of Birmingham. I thank my mother for imparting a love of the written word. I thank my father for teaching me that hard work pays off (he was a coal miner...he worked his ASS off to provide for us). And I thank them both for making sure both myself and my 2 brothers could go to college and actually get a taste of life outside our bubble. <p> Having said that, Alabama is just like ANYWHERE in that there are all kinds. But you're a pretty smart cookie, and you know that. Don't worry, I learned long ago to not take things personally, until they get PERSONAL, if you know what I mean. <p> I enjoy coming to sites like this, because I get to talk film with folks from all over the damn world. For free. And if there's a universal language, it's film. I just wish so much American film didn't scream "Look! There's 'splosions and boobies!"

Boobies are always alright. Another universal thing right there. Except in Brazil, they are more about asses.<br><br>And you should check out TOP GEAR. Specialyl their special challenge episodes like their Trip to USA, or the Polar Especial, or their Vietnam special or the Bolivia Special. You will never believe a motorcar TV show could be this fun!

It's everything I wanted in a Predator flick and maybe a little more. This is coming from a man who was around when Predator 1 came out originally. It sets itself apart from the original (for me) in that this group of guys is clearly not a cohesive unit, even when they're united for survival. And I don't recall Brody saying that "Get off the bench" line. Either way, it's a good flick. See it.

When I was in Army basic training, my Drill Instructors were all Nam vets (I went thru basic in 84)in the infantry. We asked them a couple times about what it was like but they said when you're out there your fighting for your life and your buddies. The world outside that firefight doesn't exist. One of them had a master infantry badge which is damn hard to get. None of these guys were Arnie types nor weighed above 210 I'd say. But these men you would not fuck with. They didn't act macho, didn't need to. They were warriors and you knew by the way they acted, handled weapons and physically they were in top shape. Not musclebound but lean and filled out. So I don't have a problem with Brody. Not based on my personal experience.

One of my DI's, name of Jolsen looked exactly like Locke from Lost. As a DI, he never yelled at us or had us drop and do 20. Nope, he'd just tell you "kid, get your shit together. We both know you can do it. Now do it." And he'd walk you thru what you were trying to do. On PT qualifying day, he ran 3 2 miles runs with us (Unit ran at different times about 30 minutes apart), pushing us and not allowing anyone to fail. That guy was fucking Capt America. Guess thats why I love Cap so much because I met the real deal.

just got home from the midnight showing of this terrible and pointless movie.SPOILERS AHEAD! you know that shot from the trailer where a hundred predator laser sights aim at brody? bullshit. in the film, it's only one! that's just a blatant misrepresentation of what we're in for. the earth-like planet was so earth-like that topher grace's character IDENTIFIED A FUCKING PLANT! brody seemingly knows exactly whats going on. even if realizing they're in a game preserve is plausible, why assume it's THE WHOLE PLANET? agree with early reviews that this is a terrible performance from fishburn. really laughably awful. the predators do look good, but you barely see them, and the movie they briefly occupy is just straight up bad. convict shanks predator. it makes predator 2 look positively stellar. redbox this ugly motherfucker in a few months.

an homage to Aliens or just ripping it off? Given how bad the writing is, i'd have to say the latter. A retread of the first movie (waterfall too!) but with no tension or characters that you care about. Surprised that the feedback is so positive, really.

I was shocked to see – in the first ten minutes of the film – the close-up initial shot of the 2010 Old Painless showing ONLY ONE BARREL FIRING instead of the spinning multi-barrels. Check it out when you see it (or see it again) when you first see Old Painless firing THE OTHER FIVE BARRELS ARE NOT SPINNING!
I almost lost my suspension of disbelief there. It took a while to get it back – especially with nothing but close-ups of the jungle because it would have been too expensive to make northern Cali look like an alien world. But the post-production inclusion of an establishing shot of Old Painless without spinning barrels? No gun that has six barrels uses just one! Those two self-important dolts on Discovery channel doing their Mythbusting got an SUV with a working minigun on the roof why they hell couldn’t RR arrange that to make that important shot work?
That said it got better in Act 2. Adrian Brody – that dude can act. He carried the film IMO. The story was not a letdown – the most important aspect of course. I would talk just about that but so many others have made great points both ways.
The new effects were cool – examples: the Predator’s vision was enhanced to show muscle groups and specific heat centers in their quarry, the shoulder cannon had added coolness in terms of a visual effect and the fire effects looked good (always a plus) and the sound work was absolutely excellent. Lot of staccato noises to keep the audience on their toes. I paid to see it today and I will buy it when it is released on DVD.

Suspension of disbelief is so damn critical in these types of films. So I was pleased to see the cast members actually rallying to make a coherent story! YES! It did indeed wipe away at least some of the shitstain left from the AvP debacle IMO.
Adrian Brody - fuck me what are they feeding that guy! I thought he was such a pussy and here he comes wielding an A-10 auto shotgun and built like a brick shithouse. Everyone knew he could act but carry a film in Ahnolds footsteps? Yes, he did.
Topher Grace has a part in the film that some thought sucked. I think those people are wrong. The part totally worked for me.
In closing I will say that there are a LOT of homages, good naturedly, to the first Predator film. And I loved them. Although it bordered on overkill it was not ripping off past material. The music, however, was just slightly (and I mean almost imperceptibly) changed track listing of the 1987 film. But hey - it's all about establishing that same mood, right? It worked.

For so many reviews of the writing; the comparisons to Alien/Aliens, P1/P2, AVP; and all the other seemingly "with a microscope" reviews, I'm still left with one question:<p></p>
wtf were you watching?<p></p>
The much maligned Fishburn character, even in his few moments on screen, answered all these questions about the planet.<p></p>
The Predators learn & adapt. Isn't it obvious ... and not all that great a leap of the imagination ... to realize that they probably re-created their favorite hunting grounds (an Earth jungle) on their planet and keep re-populating it with Humans as a sort of "training ground" for the real thing?<p></p>
Of course, since these are some naturally vicious sumbitches, even a training ground must be deadly ... so that explains why there are no saftey features in their personal "Danger Room".<p></p>
The Final Scene ALONE (no spoiler) proves my "re-populating the Danger Room" explanation ... or was the movie so "horrible" that no one panning it stayed around to see the final scene?<p></p>
Oh yeah, for the "Rodriguez sucks" crowd ... do it better. Hell, do it at all. El Mariachi was good. Desperado was good and INTENTIONALLY campier (he knew he had to be in order to draw the American crowd ... after all, we're infamous for our "oh look a shiney" attention span); "Spy Kids" was fun as hell (the sequels? not so much); From Dusk to Dawn; Planet Terror; etc., etc.<p></p>
"Predators" is NOT for everyone; but neither was "Predator"; it's a film made strictly for and within its genre ... so all these "look at me I went/should've gone to film school" critiques can be summed up in the title of this post.

why can't you just sit back and relax. enjoy the movie, damn. its a genre movie..not an Oscar contender. Enjoy the action..the acting...the story....all of which were pretty good. I like to know what movies these trolls consider good?

I saw it with a friend of mine and we just left feeling kind of down. It just half-asses everything, none of the performances are really that great or entertaining, Laurence Fishburne looks like a black William Shatner, the script sucks, the design and cinematography are garbage, and the "new" Predator is just a Predator with slightly longer mandibles. It's not as bad as either "AvP" film but it's not bad enough to be entertaining either. Basically, there's just no reason for it to exist.